The best group blog Algonquin College social media students have ever written

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My business called Social Media Pursuit would benefit from content that was geared to my small business clients at a very basic social media start-up stage. My content would need to take the “fear” out of social media and at the same time educating and demonstrating how to use Facebook. My content needs to be laced with humour, as that reflects me and my customer relationship, simple relevant content and only posting on my SMP Facebook page which is the main social media forum my customers are most familiar with at their early stage of social media development.

Prior to this course I have not posted much on my SMP Facebook page as most of my customers are not there yet. But while taking this course I realized that as part of my “package” my customers must take the first step by “liking” my SMP Facebook page as part of the contract. Making it mandatory. Keeping them engaged in my business. Engaging them weekly. Through this medium I can focus my postings on educating my clients. I can post content relevant to my customers industry and despite their social media preparedness, I can inspire, motivate, educate and gently move them ahead in the only social media forum that they are already using personally and sometimes professionally.

If my content stays focused to educating my clients in social media, I will be fortunate to increase my page “likes” , inspire my current customers to hire me again as I educate their marketing needs and increase my social media street cred. Everyone wins.

Before social media the food industry has always been a social place to hang out. It appears to have been an easy transition to social media…sometimes.

Starbucks – The Real Happy Meal?

Starbucks appears to have an edge on the social media by being “just down the street” from many of us allowing Starbucks to post a promotion and make you feel like they are reaching out to you as you drive by one of their outlets. Their free pastry day in 2012 on Facebook and Twitter pushed one million of us through their doors. It appears we love pastries more than we knew. Another Starbucks promotion asked patrons to bring in their own tumblers for a free cup of coffee as a “green” initiative. Brilliant. Starbucks is listening closely to the social media coffee buzz and their My Starbucks Idea generating website allows us to now contribute to our local stores developments.
Cleverly Starbucks has just taken the conversation to you instead of waiting for you to need another coffee.

MacDonald’s – The Real Bad Deal?

MacDonald’s launched a social media campaign in 2012 on Twitter using the hashtag #McDStories asking people to post their most nostalgic Happy Meal stories. What they were not in control of were people perceptions of what this meant to them. This campaign resulted in negative experiences at MacDonald’s being posted. How often do people remember the bad times over the good? Bad times make good stories and based on much of the population having eaten in McDonald’s, this was an opportunity to vent. Despite the impact of this campaign, it will not hurt McDonald’s brand. It was and could have been a huge opportunity to “listen” as Brian keeps telling us and flip these negative experiences into shaping their customer care and customer messages for the future. They could have offered discounts, coupons and other incentives driving them to their Facebook/website for further engagement.

I have been interested listening to the discussions in our live classroom about the development of LinkedIn in the professional world and how it is being used to build reputations, recruit, network, link skills with employers and as a first stop screening tool. The days of hiding behind a resume on a piece of paper are swiftly evolving and the days of visual presentation are rapidly moving us forward.

Today many of us are relying on websites to present us, brand us and encourage business opportunities. With the development of LinkedIn becoming a powerful tool in the hiring industry, our pages in LinkedIn will become “our brand” We will be our own brand represented by our LinkedIn page. It will prove who we are, record our professional journeys, give testimonials, contact details an outline of what we can do for you. All the elements of a basic website before product. There will be little space for error as errors will be published. Will this increased attention to job performance enhance your ROI? What do you think?

Social media is being used at the top of the social media food chain in my industry. Mashable, Chris Brogan … Brian Behler. Frankly, it is becoming harder and harder to get away from in a 24 hour period. The bad example is my own social media business Social Media Pursuit . This course highlights so much work I need to put in to take me to the next level. My business is busy, which is the good news and it is not allowing me to make the Facebook postings that rumble inside me and update my website by reducing the wording by another 50% thus catering to the 140 character industry of social media reading time.

It’s a good and bad success story really. I aptly named my business Social Media Pursuit as that is what all my customers ask for and think they need. The irony is very few will participate fully in the short-term. According to Forbes Top 7 Social Media Trends that will dominate in 2014, the first on their list is that “Investment in social media will become a necessity and not a luxury”.

Perhaps repeat business in the future will be my strongest social media pursuit leaning me more towards being a very good girl.

I am following Good Life Fitness on Twitter. I have a client in Hintonburg who has a gym called “Marshalls”. Marshall, who owns the gym, is his brand but does not reflect that yet. So we are tracking the ins and outs of what the “gyms” are discussing and posting. Frankly at this stage, I am bored. Good Life Fitness’s messages are the same old, same old. For example “We have 12 new clubs opening across Canada. Find the one closet to you – link”, and “What is your favourite healthy recipe” and “You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great“. Bored!

Good Life Fitness posts about what they are doing, healthy tips and inspirational quotes. But I cannot see anything different in their communication to their community that any other gym does not communicate. I feel they are preaching to the converted. Is that the strategy? Communicate with who you have. Aim to increase business and relationships with your already members?

In my experience of going to a good life fitness class and being surrounded by a sea of Lulu Lemon outfits I see their audience as being fairly young. I am often one of the oldest in the classes. I do not feel their messages are catering to their audience and offering them a unique experience to any other fitness establishment. So what are they trying to communicate?

Good Life Fitness has 23,279 Followers. They have only published 10,658 Tweets. I am interested in the ratio of Tweets to their followers. My observation of their on-line strategy is one of “community” with no relationship to an age group. Their followers are tweeting their successes. Good Life is responding to those that clearly are already members of a Good Life gym. It is giving their members “voice” and keeping the Good Life Community together thus maintaining their Followers loyalty and word of mouth. But it would be a nice change to hear some humour and they could add some “100 day” challenges to spice it up a bit. More focus on their young audience would be a social media slant too. It feels automated and not necessarily personal. Good news for Marshall!

Are you a Good Life member? Do you follow them on Twitter? Are you bored?

To define my favourite media tool (if that is possible) it would require my answer to be split in two.

On a personal front, I am a Facebooker. I like the fact that the “FB Pub” awaits me at all times of the day and night, wherever I am with no opening or closing hours to restrict my visits. I can get a drink and a meal, sit down at the table, turn computer on and have a good “natter” with my family and friends from all over the world. I participate in day-to-day dialogues and diaries that keep me involved with my FB friends and families’ lives, even though I am not physically there. Personal experiences are not lost. Celebrations are not lost, Tragedies are not lost. Lives are being recorded. Face books are being written and I am one of the characters. I can be part of it or not. I am honoured to be “friended” and invited on each individuals private journey . I am never alone and the “FB Pub” is always open and dialogue always flows when I choose.

On the business front my favourite has to be You Tube. YouTube offers my preferred learning style which is to watch and do. You Tube can address any technical problems at work and invites me to browse away for the answers. The precious “pause” button allows me to implement solutions in sections and respond to office interruptions when watching a video. I can leap tall print machines with flashing red lights and solve Excel challenges faster than a speeding bullet. Bottom line is You tube is more powerful (and more useful) than a locomotive in my work.

Just like Superman, who is Clark Kent one minute and Superman the next, I recognize that my favourite social media tool really depends on what I am wearing at the time and what social media tool will best suit my outfit.